NRA Convention Opens With 15 Acres of Firearm Displays

DALLAS, TX - The National Rifle Association opened its annual convention in downtown Dallas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on Thursday. The convention is expected to draw about 80,000 gun advocates and runs through Sunday.

Few events were held on the first day. More than 15 acres of firearms and hunting accessory displays are featured at the convention and seminars will be held on gun ownership, according to the NRA website. The exhibit hall opens Friday and the group's members meeting is scheduled for Saturday.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will speak on Friday at the convention. Guns are banned from the convention hall while Trump and Pence are speaking. The security measure, a requirement by the U.S. Secret Service, was called hypocritical by some — including a survivor of the Parkland school mass shooting — who question why teachers and students are supposedly safer when surrounded by a "good guy with a gun," but Trump and Pence are not.

Trump appeared at the NRA's annual meeting in Atlanta last year. Guns were also banned then.

In addition to Trump and Pence, Gov. Greg Abbott and Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz also are scheduled to speak.

Gun control groups are expected to hold protest rallies during the convention.

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